Chelsea fans are annoyed. Not even just that Enzo Maresca has departed the club and in fact, for most, that’s just another thing that’s added to the frustrations and annoyance they are already feeling and have been for some time, at least overall.
For me, I didn’t want Maresca to go. But I’ve not hid from the fact that I’ve had many question marks over him for some time and I’ve never been fully convinced. Maresca came in and was inexperienced, which sums up the issues with this whole project. We can debate all day whether he did well at Chelsea or not. But the two huge slumps we saw in December for the last two seasons on the trot, never did bode well. He also won two trophies at our club, which was a great achievement. Maybe he was building something, maybe not. But we will never find out now and he is going to be replaced by another inexperienced manager.
I like Liam Rosenior. I like how he talks, how he puts a massive emphasis on strong mentalities, belief, and confidence winning games and being more important than anything tactical. I rate that a lot. He has passion, heart, and is a firm but fair operator and a tough talker. I like that. He intrigues me and I believe that he may end up becoming a very good manager in years to come. But the issues around another hire like this is he is still raw. Again, that sums up how this project has been put together, with a lack of balance and ignoring key elements. I will back any manager who comes in until they give me reason not to. So of course, I’ll be behind Rosenior if as expected, it is him that comes in. For me, it’s always Chelsea first - I’ll never wish or hope us to lose just to prove any points I might have to make. Chelsea first, anything else is secondary.
Most people will say that this squad still needs around another 4 solid signings to be complete. How on earth can that be the case after having spent £1.2bn on building said squad? How can we still just be in 5th and fighting for our lives to even stop us slipping down to 7th/8th? Can anyone truly describe that as anything less than incompetence?
Since the project started, we’ve signed 42 players. 93% of signings have been misses or had minimal impact. Some remain in the balance.
We spent £100m on left wingers in the summer but both have big question marks over their heads and guess what? We tried to sign yet another left winger a couple weeks back! There’s still gaping holes in this squad and it lacks a spine. We have big question marks still over the centre backs as well as the 9’s. It lacks the physicality to compete in the Premier League, and for me, it still lacks leaders and proven quality experience. It’s no surprise at all to see us in the position we are in, because it’s been done without balance and has just been far too raw.
The owners need to get real if they don’t understand why Chelsea fans are angry, unhappy, frustrated, and now organising a protest against them. We are three years into their ownership and although I don’t think you can doubt the ambition they have shown and the commitment they have - I personally know that Behdad Eghbali is fully committed to what he is doing, works super hard doing it, and has become obsessed with Chelsea FC like all of us - there are big red flags around this whole project, many question marks, many mistakes made, and yet still they remain focused on doing what they are doing. For me, it is failing and needs to be changed. It just needs some tweaks. I’ve said before, having a youth-led recruitment policy for me is good, but having a youth-only recruitment policy is not good.
There’s no stability here. Players coming and going, squad rotation is just overkill because it means we cannot establish even a regular centre back pairing which for me is hugely important. But apparently that is all pushed on the manager from above.
I don’t mean anything personal to the owners or sporting directors when I criticise them. I actually think their intentions are very good and they have genuine ambitions to lead us back to the very top. But the problem is you need to admit when you’ve been wrong, and this project needs addressing and tweaking. You have to admit to signing the wrong players and questioning any data you are looking at to sign them. Is the fact that you’ve formerly been at Brighton or Manchester City part of the data now!? That’s tongue in cheek of course but it does seem to sometimes be part of the criteria!
The way some players and staff have been treated has never sat well with me either. It’s time that they take advice from the 100s of journalists, fans, experts, pundits, and former Chelsea players that have encouraged them to change tact a bit. I’ve lost count of the former Chelsea players who have said that this project just needs more experience added to it.
Reporter Alex Crook said on TalkSPORT: “By the time he [Mauricio Pochettino] left the football club, as much as I think Behdad Eghbali wanted to fire Pochettino. Pochettino COULDN’T WAIT to get his coat and head for the exit. He had enough of working under this ownership.”
Another reporter, Oliver Kay has said that Frank Lampard’s feedback to Chelsea after his spell in 2023 was that while there was talent in the squad, there was also a glaring lack of experience, resilience and know-how. Graham Potter, Pochettino and Maresca, at different times, have voiced similar concerns.
The above says it all to me. And can they really wonder why they are receiving criticism? They have to fully expect this in this moment and if they are surprised by it, they need to get real.
So, what is the protest?
It’s being organised by a pretty large group of Chelsea supporters and is being backed and shared by many of the big Chelsea social media fan accounts.
The account that has been setup to promote it and lead it is called Not A Project CFC.
Their correspondence reads as:
‘Chelsea Fan Protest against Behdad Eghbali and the Sporting Directorship.
‘Chelsea vs Brentford, 17th January
‘Britannia Gate, Stamford Bridge
‘Protest starts at 1pm
‘One club. One voice. Change MUST occur.’
I back a lot of this. Maybe not all of it, but I back it, and I back the protests.
Will they make a shed of difference? I highly doubt it. Behdad Eghbali is fully behind his project and has full belief in it. I don’t see him changing the plans or ideas behind it now.
I guess if it was perhaps a harder hitting protest and mass walkouts of Stamford Bridge - i.e not going to games or whatever, then maybe it could have more of an effect. But that’s up to the guys organising it all. I’m not behind any organisation of this, I just support a protest because after everything I’ve written above, things need to change.
Yes, we’ve won two trophies. But our inconsistencies have been awful. Chelsea are not back until they are challenging consistently for the Premier League title and being a real force in the Champions League. That’s where Chelsea deserve to be, and no, it’s not entitled for any Chelsea fan to say or believe that. Ambition is ambition. Spending that amount of money on building a new squad, comes with expectations.
More accountability is needed at the very top. And more importantly, a realism is needed at the very top. Chelsea fans are angry, and they’re angry at those running things and making the big decisions. And it’s not just from Maresca leaving, it’s the overall messiness and situations that we have continued to witness across the last three years.
I’ve got fans I know who have been huge Chelsea fans for the last 50-odd years in some cases, completely losing their connection with the club and finding it hard to keep supporting and/or keep going to games. How does that make anyone at the top at Chelsea feel? It SHOULD make them feel truly gutted. But this is the stark reality of where we are at. Of course, beating Barcelona was great, as was winning the Club World Cup. But that needs to be sustained and built on, look what has happened since and look at some of the awful performances and results we have witnessed since then? We don’t hang on one of two good performances as a form of happiness or reality.
Time to get real.
Simon Phillips
I back the protests. It’s good to see younger supporters doing something like this. It won’t make a jot of difference to Egbhali but it’s good to see the baton being passed to a new generation of supporters groups. There is an element of not wanting to upset the status quo with relationships within the Club creeping in amongst the big groups now.
Thanks Si. A measured response to the situation. I saw a comment somewhere that the fans need to keep their demands simple and focussed. That is basic political nous so I agree with that as a strategy. I’ve worked with private equity managers: their attention span is very limited. So what demand or demands should the protest unite around? Well, once again I saw a comment that I liked for its simplicity and potential benefits: the ownership should commit to the SDs being available at pressers to answer questions that the coach should not be expected to answer. Of course many fans will want more than this but in the unlikely event that these demand were met it would be the start of an adult culture of accountability.